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THE
JANUARY 12, 1924
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
11
Advertising That Creates Prestige
How the Reputation of the Music Merchant Is Built Up by Advertising That Is Written and Laid Out With
An Eye to Cumulative Results in Reputation and Good Will—A Striking Example in the
Publicity Used by the Lauter Piano Co., of Newark, N. J.
P
RESTIGE, says Webster, is weight or in-
fluence derived from past success, force or
charm derived from acknowledged char-
acter or reputation. In the dictionary of busi-
ness it is reputation backed by goods of merit,
presented in a dignified and thoroughly honest
fashion. In advertising, it is making no state-
ments in the copy that are not justified in the
goods themselves. It is an ever-present element
in every sale, intangible as it may be, working
silently but effectively for the benefit of the
firm which possesses it. Name over the leaders
in any great line of industry, no matter what
its nature may be, analyze the reasons for their
success and it will be found that fundamental
and basic is this factor.
Of course, the element which plays the great-
est part in creating prestige for any commercial
enterprise is the quality of the goods which it
produces. Without that, prestige is impossible
of achievement. But granted that this exists,
there still remain other formative factors which
are extremely important. One of these and the
one which this article proposes to deal with in
detail, is the way in which quality is presented
to the great buying public; in other words, the
way prestige becomes a creative force in making
sales and an active factor in increasing the
volume.
'Fake the player-piano. Here is an instrument
which has probably the most unlimited possi-
bilities from an advertising standpoint of any
instrument which the music merchant handles.
Yet there are many music merchants throughout
the country who disregard these in presenting
it ever been, the proper method of selling musi- sality of the instrument and how it opens the
cal instruments, even though sporadic successes world's music to its owner.
achieved at times may have blinded certain ele-
Another advertisement of the same type, but
ments of the trade to this truth. Those who featuring simply a single composition, but one
have pursued it stead-
ily have, without excep-
tion, suffered and in
the long run have put
their sales on the basis
of bargaining and price,
catered essentially to
the "shopping" element
and reaped the results
that always are in the
train of this type of
business.
There a r e o t h e r
firms, and a good many
of them, it is good to
be able to say, who
have not followed along
these lines of self-de-
ceit. Recognizing the
value of prestige and
its basis, quality, they
have steadily sought to
achieve them. Know-
ing that each advertise-
ment they use is but a
succession in a long
line of business mes-
sages to the public,
they have s t e a d i l y
sought for the cumula-
tive results that come
ERE is an evening's entertainment that would tax the
only through a contin-
versatility of any pianist. Yet, with the Lauter-Humana
uous i m p r e s s i o n of
player piano, you could play every one of these numbers—
and play with a finesse that would do credit to a skilled artist
quality and reputation
Ranged between the latest musical hits and the more substantial
which eventually ends
classics there is an inexhaustible store of entertainment and
in that vague though
pleasure that waits only to be released by you. With a player
important thing usu-
piano that is so liberally endowed with the finer qualities of tone
ally known as good
and expression—such as the Lauter-Humana -you would have
will.
This type of
all music at its best.
player-piano advertis-
The /.iiuter-ffumana, "world's finest player piano", mat) he purchased
ing stands in sharp con-
on convenient terms An af'oivancc n'i/l be mode lor pour old piano.
trast with the price
and bargain type of
publicity which is so
often seen and that it
With the Lauter-Humana
You Could Play This Program
H
LAUTER PIANO CO.
is m o r e successful a n d
« :: w,vv«,^T,A'Ai.. Wbg i iiBai i E5
527-593 Broad
Street
consequently
more
There Is Nothing Quite Like
Featuring the Player-piano
profitable is indicated
Playing the Lauter-Humana
by the houses, the policies of which have never of wide appeal, is also reproduced. Here, again,
deviated from that line, who to-day are the real the appeal is based on the musical capabilities
play "Al Da«ninir," that clis'mlne ballad by Cadman? With the
of the instrument, with no mention of price or
leaders in the industry.
i put into place, and the n i l beautiM ran c fills the
Prestige creating publicity can be no better terms. It is a straight and simple appeal to the
n flames
'Ajt- 1 toot ceo..
Wttn the blrdlm?) wtika and cm, I loot ton,
illustrated than by the advertisement of the fundamental urge which makes the prospective
Wtt»n the swaying limits ol forn,
Wffifptr toft ct bnaJiinv-ifwi.
Looe antw to me is bora.
Lauter Piano Co., of Newark, N. J., which is customer buy, for, after all, he or she does not
I loos ffou. t toot jfuu
You play—now softly, now loudly— all rhe while expressing your own fetl-
reproduced with this issue—the one with the purchase a player-piano because it is so cheap
,ngs. your own pc-sonality!
caption, "With the Lauter-Humana You Can or because there can be had a long time in
The list bar faintly dies awav, and r ° j emerge from a delightful reyene
You have enjoyed yourself more than you ever could have by merely listening
to music You have been a part of "At Dawning"—you have felt all the -hrill
Play This Program." Here is an advertisement which to pay for it. They buy it primarily
thai Cadman must have felt when he co mpostd this haila.l Playing the Lauter-
iof which you will never tire.
which, while designed to sell player-pianos, deals because they want music and because that in-
r-Hui
e p!an'
I'v.
primarily not with the price of the instrument, strument can give it to them without under-
the low terms on which it can be purchased nor going the long and perhaps tedious process of
LAUTER
PIANO
CO.
the bargain which the instrument is. Instead, learning to play the piano manually.
Wl-593 BROAD STREET
These are prestige-creating advertisements in
it confines itself strictly to one topic—the pleas-
^3gggK<»g^^
ure which the player-piano brings to its owner the best sense of the word. They cannot help
in his own home. The company here becomes but add to the reputation of the house which
A Lauter Advertisement .
their sales message to the public and who con- not simply a merchant selling merchandise, but uses them. Dignified and restrained in their
fine themselves to the price and long-term a purveyor of music and therefore pleasure and statements, making an appeal to the funda-
method of approach in their advertising, using entertainment in the home. The copy shows mental buying instincts of their readers, backed
the great possibilities of the instrument and, by instruments which have 100 per cent quality
copy which is destructive of every sense of
prestige and totally incompatible with every what is best of all, the sample program given behind every statement made in them, they are
method of achieving it. This is not, nor has neglects no field of music, showing the univer- indisputably the most effective possible.
J
o
N
K A B i E
N